House Republicans are trying to persuade their Democratic colleagues to rewrite a law that would grant immunity to telecommunication companies that cooperated with allegedly illegal government spying.
Yesterday, a group of Republican leaders began circulating a discharge petition to begin acquiring the necessary 218 signatures to force a vote.
"More than 66 days have passed since House Democrats allowed a key piece of terrorist surveillance legislation to expire--not because they had concerns with the bill, but because they were seemingly more concerned that not enough trial lawyers would be able to file enough expensive and frivolous lawsuits against U.S. telecom firms," Republican whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said in a statement, as reported by CNET News.com.
Blunt was referring to the House's decision to let a temporary expansion of the spy law known as the Protect America Act, which Congress passed hurriedly last summer, lapse.
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